Aug 19, 2008 7:46 pm US/Pacific
Thawing Bigfoot Reveals Costume, Big Hoax
MENLO PARK (CBS 5 / AP) ―
Turns out the recent claim of a frozen Bigfoot was just a big lie, nothing more than the latest Sasquatch hoax.
Menlo Park-based researcher Tom Biscardi, on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot, said in an online posting on Tuesday that the carcass encased in a block of ice - handed over to him for an undisclosed sum of money by two Georgia men who claimed to have found it - was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla suit.
The revelation came just days after a much ballyhooed press conference was held by Biscardi's group, Search For Bigfoot, Inc., at a Palo Alto hotel to proclaim that the remains of the creature found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.
Biscardi, in a posting on his Web site, indicated that he did not receive the freezer containing the alleged remains until the day after the news conference.
He said the men refused to give it to him prior to meeting with reporters, but they signed a contract and received payment from Biscardi's group for the exclusive rights to examine the body and promote the discovery.
At the press conference last Friday, the Georgia men offered photographs and an e-mail from a scientist who conducted inconclusive DNA tests as proof of the body's existence.
Steve Kulls, host of a radio program devoted to Bigfoot hunting and an associate Biscardi's, said that as the "evidence" delivered by the men in a 1,500 lb. freezer was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.
First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said.
The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section," said Kulls. An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed - and they were found to be made of rubber.
Matt Whitton, an officer who has been on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department in Georgia, and Rick Dyer, a former Georgia corrections officer, claimed they had stumbled upon Bigfoot's body during a hike in the woods on a camping trip earlier this summer.
"Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," Whitton proclaimed at last week's press conference.
Biscardi and his associates believe the men's motives for the hoax were purely financial and indicated they planned to sue Whitton and Dyer to get the money back that was paid for the phony Bigfoot remains.
"It is still unclear why Whitton who, being a police officer for the Clayton County Police Department in Georgia got up before the world and lied and was complicit in a scheme to defraud in a felonious manner" said Kulls.
Phone calls to Whitton and Dyer went unreturned on Tuesday. But the voicemail recording for their Bigfoot Tip Line - which proclaims they search for leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster - had been updated and announced they're also in search of "big cats and dinosaurs. If you see any of those, give us a call."
Meantime, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner on Tuesday processed paperwork to have Whitton fired from his job as a result of the hoax.
"Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Turner said. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."
Turner said he had not spoken to Whitton about the bogus Bigfoot claim, but added that it didn't matter.
"He's been an embarrassment. This is basically a disgrace to be in law enforcement. You must have integrity. He has none," the chief said.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
